Answer To: ONPS2374 FOOD MICROBIOLOGY GUIDELINES AND MARKING RUBRIC: POSTGRADUATE WRITTEN REPORT 2022...
Uzma answered on Oct 26 2022
Seafood-Borne Pathogens
Abstract
Seafood contamination is one of the major issues most of countries are facing nowadays. It is due to poor handling practices, and lack of proper temperature control leading to food-borne disorders. It has become one of the major causes of mortality owing to its high demand for consumption. Seafood contamination is mostly through various food-borne pathogens including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and algae. To achieve safety in seafood consumption it is important to detect, identify, and monitor those sea food-borne pathogens. Rapid detection of seafood pathogens based on nucleic acids, antigen–antibody, biosensors, and phage methods are in use recently. These methods help to overcome the limitations of conventional pathogen detection methods. Various physico-chemical, biological, and a combination of one or more techniques are utilized to control seafood-borne pathogens. Apart from these proper hygiene, post-harvest, maintenance, handling, and storage can effectively control food-borne pathogens in seafood.
Introduction
Seafood is considered an important source of the most vital nutrients all over the world. Seafood consumption per capita is globally high in recent years. As seafood contains most of the vital nutrients required for human consumption it not only confers health benefits but also helps to minimize the occurrence of various diseases. Naturally occurring pathogens in seawater such as Vibrio, Botulinum, Salmonella, Campylobacter, etc. result in unsafe seafood. It is well known that harvesting, handling, preparation, processing, transportation, and storage of seafood and its products reduce their quality making them unsafe for consumption. There are various prevalent pathogens of major and minor concern. The pathogens associated with food-borne illness are bacteria, viruses, and parasites. The illness caused by these pathogens ranges from mild gastroenteritis to life-threatening disorders. Seafood consumed mostly are the mollusks (e.g., oysters, clams, and mussels), finfish (e.g., salmon and tuna), marine mammals (e.g., seal and whale), fish eggs (roe), and crustaceans (e.g., shrimp, crab, and lobster). While the growing areas are polluted with human waste the seafood is contaminated by various pathogens. Seafood-associated illnesses are most commonly linked to the pollution of the marine environment. This is mainly caused by Calicivirus, Hepatitis A virus, and Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi (Tauxe & Pavia., 1998). As there is an increasing demand for seafood worldwide, contamination of fish and seafood products is also increasing. As a reason, seafood exporters are facing a huge loss. This problem should be overcome through proper handling and processing of seafood from harvesting to table (Afreen & Bagdatli., 2021). The current review focuses on the advances in the current methods in the detection of seafood-borne pathogens. Further, control strategies of pathogens in the seafood are briefly discussed.
Detection methods of seafood pathogens
Diseases caused by the consumption of seafood pose a universal threat to the seafood industry, aquaculture, and also to human health. This is because of the pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa. The main limitation in seafood pathogen diagnosis and management of the disease is the lack of rapid, and reliable methods of detecting and identifying these pathogens. This further provides an alternative search tool for seafood pathogens diagnostic techniques.
As seafood products are represented as international traded commodities of food, they should exhibit safety along with improved quality. Thus, it is important to manage the safety of seafood to reduce pathogen contamination and transfer to consumers. Therefore, it is vital to detect, identify, and monitor the pathogens responsible...